Most people planning to visit Nepal don't think too much about celebrating Christmas while they are here. In fact, 99 percent of the people leave to celebrate the holidays back home. But, what would celebrating Christmas in Nepal be like? Well, we went to Thamel and enjoyed the night.
If you are someone who gets depressed around the holidays you might want to break that cycle by doing a 'Christmas Escape.' 2020 promised to be an amazing time to go to Nepal, but with the pandemic thing, it will be great to celebrate our 2020 + 1. The roads are surprisingly good now compared to a few years ago, but it's still as crazy and exciting as you want it to be.
Christmas may have been great when we were children, but now that our grandparents have passed and everyone seems to have scattered many people become depressed and cynical during the holidays. Here's one way to make the most of it.
Nepal's government has been working hard to make tourists feel welcome and safe for their big tourism year, 2020. It's all canceled now, but Nepal is always here for you.
By December it is too cold to do a lot of trekking, but in the Kathmandu Valley, we have mild winter weather. Below, in the flat region at the Indian border, it's nice and warm in December.
When you get to Kathmandu you'll want to do some Christmas shopping for your family and friends. Due to weight, as you can explain to your family, you were limited in what you could get them. Here are some very frugal suggestions:
For $20 gifters you can buy handcrafted calendars that are even hand-painted. They will cost you about $1-2 each.
For $50 gifters you can get lovely pashmina scarves and shawls for about $10 if you buy a few of them, excellent quality if you shop well.
For gifters of $100 or more, you could get an original, thanka painting and have it mounted in a traditional silk frame. Thankas can be found for $10 that would make an impressive gift when framed in a $35 silk frame. They are also lovely matted and framed behind glass.
Bonus tip: You can go to the Tourism Board (Exhibition area) in the huge open park area in the center of Kathmandu, Ratna Park area, and get some free posters of Nepal. They are quite nice and are easily valued at $20. They can be rolled up along with the thankas or simply slid into a shipping sleeve.
You can get great values on incense, fabric, hand-carved semi-precious stones, jewelry and so much more. You may even save money even when you factor in the airfare.
A recent video we did:
So, after you buy the gifts you can have one of the young men who work at your guesthouse mail everything to you in one box. We have some insights into the Nepal Postal Service in this video, above. With his tip plus freight charges, shipping can be less than $50 and you can hand-deliver the gifts when you get home. Not a bad plan, uh?
Stay tuned to our Youtube channel, What About Nepal?, to learn more about the shopping values you can find in Nepal. You can do a 10-day meditation, get a yoga certification, volunteer or just see all the sites in the Kathmandu Valley, so don't think you'll be bored or lonely. There is plenty to see and do to keep you busy even if you don't go for a trek.
Back to the 'Christmas' subject, how many times have you been excited about the holidays and been disappointed? Perhaps it's time to do it a bit differently, 'Nepali Style.'
So, What About Nepal?
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Learn more about Ama’s work in Nepal. (http://KayGarnay.org)
We have an e-Book to help you have a great time in Nepal with even more tips. Our eBook, Nepal: A Tourist’s Manual. http://Payhip.com/Nepal
Website-Still a work in progress: https://WhatAboutNepal.org
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